


Broadcasted

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [21]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Exposition, Fix-It, Gen, Vampire Family, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 11:30:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1106297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not one, but two new steps are taken in the family's journey to put a stop to all of this mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broadcasted

**Author's Note:**

> Part four, "A Window Opens."

When Pam and Tara reemerge, they find the other three arranged around the television, Jessica laid out on the couch all casual-like and Nora sitting in Eric’s lap in the armchair, an arm casually slung around his shoulders.

“Oh, please,” Pam mutters, because either Jessica took the couch for herself and necessitated the others to buddy up or Eric did that thing he does of pulling Nora close to surprise her (Pam knows about this, he used to do it to her back when they were still sexual with each other) and she just stayed and snuggled right up and either of these is a fairly cloying option.

At least everyone's finally got their pants on.

She moves to the end of the couch nearer to Jessica’s feet and forcibly sits her up, causing Jessica to retort, “You could just use your words like a big girl,” but clearly, being a big girl isn’t Pam’s priority right now, given the way she shamelessly invites Tara to make herself comfortable in her lap in parody of the others’ pose.

“Shush,” Nora hisses, though she hasn’t torn her eyes away from the screen.

Some cute little pageant queen-looking reporter is standing on the proverbial street corner, giving some rhetoric-laced speech, and Pam’s about to give attitude about it and how it’s nothing they haven’t heard before or don’t already know, but then she waves over a Concerned Citizen (™) to interview.

“Nobody’s safe anymore,” this person – a generic middle-aged white guy, of course, likely chosen because he looks trustworthy or some shit (even though he kind of just looks like a douche, he’s wearing a polo shirt tucked into his pants for crying out loud) – sighs.

“Would you care to elaborate?” the reporter prompts.

“Well, the gal who babysits for my wife and I,” he begins, prompting everyone to roll their eyes (“gal,” for one, and of course he’s setting up that he’s a family man, adds to that “trust me, I’m normal” thing) and Tara to audibly grumble, “She got accosted goin’ home one night, walkin’ through the Arts District.  People who saw it said it was a whole pack of fangers – ‘scuse me – did it, and if it weren’t for the cops showin’ up to intervene, she’d be dead.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” the reporter murmurs politely before turning to the camera to add, “I think we all owe a thank you to our local police for upholding the law in these dangerous times.”

“Spare us the theatrics,” Pam declares.

“And there’s a couple boys down the street from my house – real little, not even ten yet – got nabbed after their baseball practice,” he continues.  “Goin’ after _kids,_ there’s nothin’ lower.”

“It is a disturbing trend,” the reporter agrees, continuing to speak as the screen flashes to charts (because you can’t argue with charts).  “In the last week alone, the amount of reported vampire attacks has almost tripled, and those against children, once a rarity, have become commonplace..  Governor Burrell has openly spoken out against vampires, pushing for his amendment to the constitution to be addressed in an emergency session of the legislature.”

“This governor is a problem,” Eric muses.

“No shit,” Tara exclaims.

“In addition to setting a curfew for vampires, the law would grant additional power to law enforcement when dealing with them,” the reporter continues.

“Additional force, she means,” Jessica declares with a glance over at Tara.  “Like those cops used on you.”

“The one of them did say something about giving something a try,” Pam admits.

“Fuckers,” Jessica says (Pam has to try not to roll her eyes, it still sounds like playacting when the younger woman swears, but this isn’t the time for snark).

“If that’s what this governor has in mind for dealing with us, he’s even more of a sadistic dick than I’d have thought,” Tara mutters, and Pam wraps an arm around her waist soothingly.

Without warning, Eric lifts Nora from his lap and climbs to his feet beside her.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asks.

“Going to deal with this,” Eric says.  “Stay here, stay safe.  We don’t need any more drama.”

With that, he heads for the door, but Nora, who’s been quiet this whole time, is on his heels.  The rest of them so completely aren’t watching like they expect something to happen, but almost as if they could guess at it, they wait until they’re outside to have whatever discussion they’re going to have.

Not a minute later, Nora reenters, alone and almost but not quite pouting, and she can’t help but make a face at the other three all sat on the couch looking calculatedly in the opposite direction of the door.

“You don’t need to pretend like you weren’t trying to eavesdrop,” she says very tersely.

“What’s goin’ on?” Jessica asks.

“For us, homework,” Nora declares.  “As per usual.”

 

* * *

 

“Did he tell you what he’s doin’?” Jessica asks, sprawling out over the arm of the couch.  (If you ask her, it seems like Eric and Pam just cleaned out a warehouse full of leather couches and spread the spoils out all through southern Louisiana.  At least they’re nice leather couches.)

“Eric doesn’t tell people what his plans are,” Pam chimes in.  “He’s too fond of the dramatic reveal.”

“So no,” Nora says.  “I’m going to make the rounds.  Jessica, come with?”

It doesn’t take much effort to figure out why.  Nora doesn’t need an extra pair of eyes, but Nora knows that the moment she (the supervising force) is gone, Pam and Tara will be on each other.  They’ve had that look in their eyes for an hour, even though they were _just_ at it.  It's the newlyweds stage of things.

“Yeah, okay,” Jessica agrees.  She pushes off the couch and yanks her sweater back down over her head.  “Least the weather’s cleared up.”

 

* * *

 

Nora and Jessica are poring over the Bible and Pam and Tara are sitting at the dining table – presumably trying to remember every last detail from the previous night, in case there’s something else they let slip by the wayside that might help – when Tara starts to doze off.

“Must be sunrise,” Pam says, not unkindly, before nudging her progeny’s shoulder.  “You gonna manage to stay awake long enough to follow me into bed, or am I gonna have to carry you?”

“Don’ be ridiculous,” Tara mumbles, but she pushes out from the table and isn’t ashamed to grab Pam’s hand for balance once they’re standing.

“I think we’re gonna have to take our leave,” Pam announces, all mock-grand.  “You gonna be okay without us?”

“I’ll be fine,” Nora mutters.  “Go, get some sleep.”

“You oughta think about it, too,” Pam points out, softer than usual.  “What could you possibly find in that old book that you haven’t seen before?”

Nora shrugs.  “Something,” she says.  “It’s probably been staring us all in the face.”

Jessica’s getting plenty tired, too, but she nods very adamantly about this.  “Just a few more minutes,” she insists.  “Or somethin’ like that.”

“Suit yourselves,” Tara says, at the same time that Pam offers an arch, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  Hand in hand, then, they head off back to their room, leaving the other two women staring at each other.

“You don’t have to stay up with me,” Nora insists.  “Really, I’ve got it handled.”

“I wanna,” Jessica says.  “I like feelin’ like I’m doin’ things.”

Nora understands that much, at least, so with a determined nod, she turns the page and they take up the task once more.

 

* * *

 

For a baby, Jessica manages to stay up impressively long, and it’s a good fifty pages worth of close reading down and near eleven in the morning  when she finally has to admit defeat.

“Sorry I’m wussin’ out on you,” she mumbles as she clambers to her feet, stretching in that sleepy sort of way.

“You’re not,” Nora shrugs, and with a surprising amount of sincerity she adds, “Thank you for the help.”  What of it there was, but that’s not Jessica’s fault, it’s just the fault of how damn stubborn this book is being about showing them any more secrets.

Jessica smiles lazily, patting Nora on the shoulder as she starts toward her room.  “Get some sleep yourself, okay?” she says.

“When I’m done,” Nora murmurs.

Though there’s no need to do the whole elaborate translation exercise without Jessica sitting beside her, Nora can’t help but keep it up, and maybe an hour later, she stumbles across something she could swear she’d seen before, but she hadn’t really _seen_ it, had she?

“The _progeny_ will lead Lilith to the sun,” she reads, and a hand flies to her mouth.  “ _Oh_.”


End file.
